Scots social care complaints rise

There has been a big surge in complaints about care services in Scotland.

Figures from regulator the Scottish Care Commission show it received 2,061 new complaints in 2005-6, an increase of 366 (22 per cent) on the previous year.

But nearly a quarter of the complaints involved services the commission does not regulate. It ended up registering 1,594 formal complaints.

The commission completed 1,534 investigations during the year, which was also a 10 per cent increase on 2004-5 levels.

But the numbers of services that had a complaint upheld against them was 4.5 per cent, compared with 4 per cent last year – a 12 per cent rise. The commission issued 177 enforcement notices relating to the quality of care against 110 services.

The vast majority of services it regulates are children’s day care services, care homes or child minders.

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